Thursday, August 24, 2017

Under Bry’s suggested regulations, homeowners would be allowed to rent out only their primary residences on a short-term basis but for no more than 90 days a year. By clamping down on such rentals, Bry says her proposal would effectively shut down the transformation of single-family homes by absentee investors into what she calls “full-time mini-hotels in residential zones.”

The same issue is beginnning to affect Encinitas' coastal neighborhoods. So far, the city likes the hotel tax revenue and the neighbors aren't complaining too much. Of course, turning residences into vacation rentals exacerbates the housing shortage that everyone is so worked up about.

P.S. How about prohibiting vacation rentals in any new complexes built in the high-density zones being created in the new Housing Task Force plan? That would further the goal of creating real housing, without infringing on the property rights of existing residents and owners.

Friday, August 18, 2017

Encinitas can develop an affordable housing plan that limits buildings to two stories and less than 30 feet in height and satisfy its regional housing mandates — but they’ll have to make some concessions to get there.

This was the word from a report authored by a city-hired consultant who unveiled his findings at a recent housing element task force meeting.

[...]

Former Councilwoman Teresa Barth in a recent newsletter questioned the trade-off.

“Will more crowded-in two story buildings be better than limited three story buildings with setbacks?” Barth said in the newsletter.

Blakespear acknowledged that the city would have to make some concessions to satisfy voters’ concerns about building heights.

How badly do you really have to mess with the setbacks? One acre at two stories is 87,120 square feet. That's enough for thirty 1000-sqft apartments plus with almost two thirds of the land left over for setbacks, parking, and green space. Make the units more affordable at 800 or 900 square feet on average and you have even more room.

Officers responded to a call at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday regarding a white 1998 Mercedes-Benz with front-end and windshield damage parked in front of a Pizza Hut in the 8000 block of Mira Mesa Boulevard.

According to police, officers arrived and found a man inside the car while a female passenger was inside getting a pizza.

The woman was questioned, and the man -- who police said appeared to be under the influence -- was detained.

Stephanie Berger-McKenna's friends and family are posting updates on her condition here.

Sunday, August 13, 2017

Authorities are looking for a person who struck a woman with their [sic] car and fled the scene on Aug. 11. in Encinitas.

Deputies from San Diego County Sheriff's Department's North Coastal Station responded to the area of North Coast Highway 101 and Basil Street at 10:07 p.m. in response to reports of a vehicle versus bicyclist collision, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Department.

A preliminary investigation found a 30-year-old woman was riding her bicycle southbound in the designated bicycle "Sharrow" lane when she was hit by a vehicle, authorities said.

The car then fled the scene southbound, and the woman was taken to Scripps La Jolla Hospital with severe head trauma, according to the Sheriff's Department.

The suspect vehicle was described as a 1993 to 2000 Mercedes C series, silver or white in color. Authorities said the car has damage to the front grill.

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Lower building heights and fewer units than what were proposed in Measure T could be possible in Encinitas' next housing element update, a consultant told the city's Housing Element Task Force in a meeting Aug. 10 at city hall.

Dave Barquist, project manager for the Orange County-based Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., whom the task force hired as its consultant earlier this year, analyzed potential scenarios at the meeting to see what could fit in a cap of 30 feet or two stories, suggesting overlays could mean the number of parcels goes down from 195 — the number proposed in the failed Measure T — to as little as around 70.

This would eliminate any site that would yield fewer than 16 units, including smaller sites downtown and in Leucadia that were included in Measure T. Although the sites are the same ones proposed in Measure T, which have already been through environmental review, Barquist noted this plan would reduce the total number of sites.

So why didn't the city council get a second opinion before trying to cram Measure T down our throats?

Monday, August 7, 2017

Seaside Courier: Encinitas likely the next North County city to go with district elections.
This would result in four council districts plus the at-large mayor. Muir lives in western New Encinitas, while Mosca lives in Olivenhain, so their districts would be unlikely to collide. Kranz and Boerner, however, both live in western Leucadia, so it would take extremely shameless gerrymandering to create separate districts for them.

Another open question is whether elections would be every two years or every four years. Voters showed an overwhelming preference for 2-year elections when asked about the mayor position, but politicians usually prefer to face the voters as infrequently as possible.